Category: Artillery Weapon

Trabuco is a form of weapon mostly used in the Middle Age. It was a siege weapon; whose primary purpose was to crush the walls of the enemies. The Trabuco was also used to throw projectiles, over the enemy walls. The origin of the tool was in China. During the time of the Crusades, the Europeans used it. At that time, the weapon was efficient and terrifying.

The mechanism used by the Trabuco is not complicated. Trabuco was popular at the time because its manufacture and maintenance were simple. It also became prominent due to how it could throw projectiles of heavyweights over long distances than weapons that were similar to it at the time. The mechanism used by the equipment involves the transformation of the gravitational energy to kinetic energy. However, it cannot convert all energy to kinetic energy. Some of it is lost in the form of sound and heat. The speed at which the projectile moves is usually proportional to the size of the counterweight.

Humans were the ones who operated the first kind of the Traction Trabuco. The beam had a short end that was made so that the individuals pulling were attached to it. Wu Jing Yao de Zong was the one recorded to have the tremendous example of this Trabuco. About 250 individuals moving a 140-pound stone for a distance of 80 meters fed it. However, this equipment was rare because of how complicated it was to control the massive team of operators. This weapon had various limitations. It was not easy to manage the human teams. Getting them to pull strings with the same effort each time was also a challenge. This tool would give about four shots per minute, which is impressive even when compared to some of the modern weapons. However, the problems it had led it to be in use only up to the eleventh century. Read This Article for additional information.

Arab merchants were the ones who took the Traction Trabuco to the Middle East. The design was improved as the short end had added weight. Thus, the weapon had an extra reach. The time of the Crusades is when the Europeans had an encounter with the Hybrid Trabuco. They liked the idea and decided to use it. After using it for some time, they made some changes to the weapon. They could now hurl stones that weight more than one tone for a long distance.